


Resurrection - Santa Clause is coming to Town

by Annejackdanny



Series: Resurrection [9]
Category: Little Daniel - Fandom, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, Kidfic, M/M, jack/daniel - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-05-12 05:43:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5654563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annejackdanny/pseuds/Annejackdanny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny loves Christmas and can't wait until it's there. But can Santa Clause come through the Stargate to Ba'th - and will he bring gifts for eveyrone? A little boy is the bringer of Christmas to another planet and a Santa's Helpers Team will make it work.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Santa is an Alien

**Author's Note:**

> I suggest you read "Resurrection" first in order to really 'get' this story becaue it's an AU. You'll find "Resurrection" on my profile / dashboard. I hope you'll enjoy this story even though Christmas is already over. Maybe you'll find a bit post-holiday fun in here.
> 
> There is the tiniest hint (blink and you'll miss it) of Sam/Janet in here.

**I**

**Santa is an Alien**

“He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, and away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight, "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

With a deep sigh of contentment Danny snuggled deeper into the crook of Jack’s arm. One small finger traced the picture of jolly ole St. Nik riding away in his sleigh. “I think Santa is real,” he said suddenly, as if the thought had just struck him now.

Maybe it had.

Jack lowered the book he’d been reading from and glanced over at Daniel who was by the stove.

Daniel blinked, gave him a shrug and focused on pouring hot chocolate into the three reindeer head mugs Carter had given to them on her last visit. Jack was pretty sure she had received them at the SGC’s Secret Santa exchange and couldn’t get rid of them fast enough.

Danny loved them. Called them the Rudolph mugs because each of the clunky brown heads sported a shiny red nose.

“Santa has to be real,” Danny repeated. “Every myth has a bit of truth in it. Daniel says that.”

Daniel muttered, “I, uh, yeah.” He managed to carry all three Rudolph mugs at once as he made his way over to the couch. “Uhhh, Danny, Santa... the Santa we know, he’s...”

Jack wanted to know where this was going. He shook his head slightly and Daniel raised his eyebrows over the rim of his glasses, but left the sentence unfinished.

Danny continued, pointing at Daniel, “You told me the story of Saint Nik of Myra. Myra is a town in Turkey,” he elaborated for Jack. “St. Nikolaus was the first real Santa. Not the Coca Cola one America invented.”

“Okay.” Jack didn’t know what else to say. When either one of the Daniels were in lecture mode it was usually best to just wait it out.

“St. Nik was a holy man, a monk, who did tons of good, ‘specially for the kids.” Danny lowered his voice and shared his theory. “He was an al-i-en.”

Jack bit his lip to keep the laughter inside. Well, there was an interesting thought. St. Nik couldn’t have been a Goa’uld. But maybe an Asgard posing as Santa? Jack had seen stranger things out there. Of course they’d have to use their holograms to give people the proper Santa image.

“What makes you think Santa was an alien?”

“’Cause he can fly with his sleigh and fit all the presents into one sack,” Danny said as if it was the most rational reasoning in the world.

Jack turned to Daniel. “He’s got a point there.”

Daniel frowned, but he didn’t say anything and just offered one of the Rudolphs to Jack who took it and took a sip. Cocoa and cinnamon. Perfect.

Danny reached carefully for his mug when Daniel handed it to him. He wrapped his hands around the reindeer head, raised it to his face and sniffed. “Ohhh, I love hot chocolate! It makes me all warm and cozy on the inside!”

Jack couldn’t agree more. But it wasn’t just the hot beverage. It never really got cold enough here to actually need hot chocolate to warm up. It was the whole place. It gave Jack inner peace, something he hadn’t felt in a very long time before he’d come to Ba'th.

Their little cabin on the bluff of Ba'th Town was the coziest place he could think of even though it lacked some of the amenities of their base quarters, like electricity and a real shower. But they still came out here as much as possible. The cabin was their home. It had a small backyard, a well with a pump and the view over the town and harbor was spectacular.

The room was filled with the scent of the pine tree they had put up in one corner. It wasn’t decorated yet because they had no Christmas decorations here. Daniel and Danny would gate to Earth next week and return with baubles and tinsel and all the trimmings.

They had discussed going ‘home’ for the holidays and staying with Carter and Fraiser because unlike Jack and Daniel they actually still _had_ a home back on Earth. But Carter and Fraiser had booked a cabin somewhere in the mountains to go skiing. Cassie hadn’t stopped talking about their vacation ever since. Carter had invited them all to come along, but she hadn’t seemed overly disappointed when they’d decided to stay on Ba'th. Jack suspected his former 2IC and the doc had gotten pretty close this past year and were aiming for getting even closer over the holidays.

So Daniel and Danny were going to spend a couple of days Earth-side to play in the snow, have an early Christmas dinner with T, Carter, the doc and Cassie, go shopping and bring Teal’c back with them so they could spend the holidays together. Jack had wanted to go with them, but base duty kept him Ba'th-bound. Not that there was anything spectacular going on around here, but duty was duty and as base commander he had to be present even if half of his people had already gone home to be with their families until New Year's.

Daniel sat down on Danny’s other side and clinked the Rudolph mugs together, their big noses gently banging.

“You know the flying reindeer and the sack are part of the myth, right?” Daniel said after a quiet moment of just listening to the low crackle and occasional log-popping coming from the fire place.

Danny stretched his short legs and wriggled his toes which were covered by thick red socks with white snowflake embroidery. Another one of Carter’s little pre-Christmas gifts. Unlike the Rudolph mugs, the socks were cute though. And Jack didn’t have to wear them.

“But it could be real. If Santa was an alien.”

“Could be real,” Jack agreed. “ _If_ Santa was an alien.”

Daniel shook his head. “Jack...”

“Well, why not? Maybe we should ask Thor if he knows about this next time we meet him.”

Danny giggled. “Not Thor, Jack! Santa would be like the Oma angel who woke me up. ‘Cause she can use magic. Maybe she was one of Santa’s angels. Or maybe Santa is like her.”

Jack looked over Danny’s head and was met by worried blue eyes.

“Interesting theory you have there, buddy,” Jack said.

Daniel cleared his throat and brushed a hand over Danny’s short blond hair. “The Oma angel was an Ancient, Danny.”

“I know. She was very pretty,” Danny said fondly.

“Yes. Yes, she was. But she has nothing to do with Santa.”

“You don’t know that. Just because she didn’t tell us, doesn’t mean she’s not.”

“Yes, actually, I was with her for a while, up there in the sky... we both were, remember?”

“Maybe she just didn’t tell us, cause we were new,” Danny said. “Maybe it’s a big secret.” He had made up his mind about this and Jack knew he’d hold on to his theory now until someone proved him wrong.

And why not? It was a cool theory.

Daniel shook his head. “Danny...”

Jack put a hand on Daniel’s shoulder and squeezed lightly. To Danny he said, “You’re right. We don’t know. But if Santa was an alien, he’d be an Ancient.”

Daniel’s look of worry turned into a glare. “Jack...”

Jack squeezed the broad shoulder once more, reassuring. _Trust me._ “It’s a nice thought after all.”

Danny piped up. “It’s okay, Daniel. You don’t have to believe it. I know you’re not into Christmas very much.”

Daniel winced. “No. No, that’s not true. I like it. I just...”

Danny reached over and placed his small hand over Daniel’s large one. “I remember Christmas when I was … before... when I was with you. When we were...” Danny bit his lip. He often had a hard time remembering his life on Earth from when he’d still been a real part of Daniel. Part of that knowledge might be forever gone, but sometimes he remembered events or places he’d been to as clearly as Daniel did. It was a muddled state of things and no one really knew how much of Daniel’s memories were still somewhere buried in the boy’s mind.

“Before Oma ascended us, before Kelowna, when we were one,” Daniel tried to put it into the right perspective for Danny, his voice soft.

“Uh-huh. Before we met Jack an’ Sam an’ Teal’c. And when we were little. I remember that, sort of.”

“I’m sorry.” Daniel turned their hands upside down and entwined their fingers.

“It’s okay,” Danny said lightly, “It doesn’t hurt.”

“You’re right **.** Because it was a long time ago.”

Jack watched them, wondering – not for the first time - if Danny still had the touch-magic in him. When the kid had first appeared on Ba'th he’d been able to established some sort of mental connection between himself and whoever he touched. He had shown Jack memories of Big Daniel. He had also calmed people and somehow put them at peace, made them happier. Jack and Daniel didn’t know for sure if that gift had been completely taken away from Danny when Oma had revived him after the failed reunion or if it was still there and only surfaced randomly.

They had never experienced any kind of mental images again. But Jack suspected a small echo of that gift was still there and that the kid sometimes used it to mellow people in order to get his way. Whether or not he was aware of doing it was another question they didn’t have the answer to because it was very subtle, never ‘in your face’.

But it was still there, somehow.

And sometimes, like now, Jack just _knew_ it was Danny’s touch that helped Daniel to relax almost visibly.

Danny smiled up at Daniel, but then his head turned and he looked at Jack again, his expression subdued, “We never liked Christmas then.”

Jack returned the boy’s look, but when he spoke it was more to Daniel. “I know. And we tried real hard to get you into the spirit.”

“I appreciated the thought, I really did. And holiday team nights were fun...” Daniel said in a kind of apologetic way.

“But you never really...”

“Didn’t get into that special place of Christmas magic, nope. Sorry. But it wasn’t your fault. If anything you all made it better for me. There were just too many...”

“Skeletons in the closets.”

“It’s not bad, it’s not depressing. Not anymore. It just doesn’t mean anything special to me.” There was no bitterness in Daniel’s voice, not even sadness. It was just a statement.

Jack knew a thing or two about how hard and haunting the holidays could be. He’d been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Each member of SG-1 carried their package of pain. Lost parents, lost kids, leaving your family behind. One of them hadn’t even known about Earth holidays. They had come together each year and done a bit of Christmas together. Small gifts, good food, drinks, sometimes a tree, sometimes just a campfire off world.

It had been nice and softened Jack’s own inner grinch, had allowed the memories of great, happier times to surface. But Daniel had always been sort of indifferent to the holidays. No favorite childhood memory to go back to, no favorite gift he’d gotten, no nostalgic thoughts of the years when he’d believed in Santa – because he never had. His parents hadn’t been into celebrating Christmas and after they were gone it had probably just gone downhill on all levels for Daniel.

Danny tugged at Daniel’s hand to get their attention back. “But we always wanted to feel it. We always _wondered_ what it’s like to feel it. And now _I_ can. ‘Cause I’m little. ‘Cause the Oma angel took away the bad stuff when she woke me up again.”

Daniel smiled. “I’m happy she took all the bad stuff away.”

Danny beamed up at him. “Me too!” Then he sighed. “I wish she’d taken away all the bad stuff from you, too.”

“I guess the bad stuff needs to be with me, just like the good stuff. But there’s a lot more of the good stuff now. And Oma gave you to us and that’s bigger than anything I can think of,” Daniel said.

Jack couldn’t tell if it had really been Oma who had taken away the ‘bad stuff’, the burden of Daniel’s adult life and all he had suffered through in his first childhood. It might have been Daniel who’d done that by severing the connection between them during their reunion. They couldn’t tell and it wasn’t really important anyway.

The child-incarnation of Daniel had always been a bright spirit. He had come down from the higher plains like a shooting star. But even then there had been a shadow hanging over the kid, because he had come with a mission. He’d been sent down, a small part split off from ascended Daniel, carrying all the memories in him. When the star child had died during the reunion with descended Daniel, Oma had brought him back to life – and that shadow had been gone.

Danny engaged everything new the same way Daniel used to do when he had first joined SG-1. He was a bottomless well of energy, curiosity and enthusiasm. He had forgotten most languages he used to speak, but was already learning Arabic and French again. His history lessons needed to be put in kiddy-terms for him because while he was a quick study and had fragmentary memories here and there, his mind worked differently now. But he gobbled down knowledge like candy and Jack was secretly grateful for not having to take a huge part in Danny’s homeschooling program.

Danny had started to show interest in Christmas a couple weeks ago when Sam had brought he Rudolph mugs and the snowflake socks. He had wanted to hear the Christmas story and then he’d ventured into asking questions about all the tales kids loved so much. Santa Claus, the reindeer...

Daniel had fed Danny’s hunger for information with myths and facts. Saint Nikolaus of Myra, the origin of the Christmas tree, the birth of the baby Jesus, the different ways Christmas was celebrated on Earth. Some of it Danny remembered, but some of it was ‘new’ to him and he wanted to know it ALL.

Jack had taken over the fun part. He had read Christmas poems and stories, watched The Grinch, Frosty the Snowman and all the Santa Claus movies with Danny. He had shared his own favorite childhood Christmas memories with his boy and Danny had soaked it all up the way only a Daniel could.

So, they had nurtured his enthusiasm about the holidays. Jack had been inspired by fond memories of his own son being so mesmerized and in awe with all things Christmas and Daniel just loved teaching the bug new things, period. He had made Christmas part of their Earth history and culture lessons.

If the star child wanted Santa Clause to be real in whatever form Jack wasn’t going to argue with that. He’d grow out of it soon enough, but this was the magical time of five year olds believing in miracles, angels and flying reindeer. In Jack’s book all was right with Danny’s world if he found some Christmas spirit for himself.

There was no need to burst the kid’s bubble.

Jack took the Rudolph mug from Danny and gave him a gentle nudge. “Go, get some marshmallows from the bedroom. Hot chocolate should never come without them.”

“The bag is on the second shelf from the bottom,” Daniel called after the kid who had already left.

The bedroom was the coolest room of the cabin. Since they had no fridge they kept most of their food there in an in-built closet. And because the kitchen was part of the living room it was too small to store food there. Jack wanted to add a storage room to the little house. It had been on his to-do list for a while but he hadn’t gotten around to it yet.

Daniel placed his mug on the ground by his feet and raised a hand before Jack could say anything. “I know he’s little and we shouldn’t stop him from believing in Santa...”

Jack turned Rudolph around until it was facing Daniel with its oversized ceramic black eyes and red nose, “Buuut?” he said in his best Alvin the Chipmunk imitation. Reindeer, chipmunks... he was sure they sounded all the same, at least in Disney movies.

Daniel rolled his eyes. “You know what he’s like, Jack. He’s like a dog with a bone – he’ll think this through and ask a hundred questions. And he expects answers that fit with his logic.”

“We’ll make something up.”

“We can’t just...”

“Look, I know you’re not into all the Christmas mambo jambo, but he’s five and apparently he wants to believe in Santa. Let him have some fun,” Jack said.

“This isn’t about me. All of this...” Daniel waved at the tree and gave Rudolph a poignant look, “is fine and I’m happy to make this the best Christmas ever for him. But an alien Santa? He’s got an imagination as big as the galaxy, Jack. You really want to try and keep up with that?”

“Well, yeah, if it makes him happy. I can keep up with it. I’m the best story teller on the planet. Any planet. I got this. Trust me.” Jack waggled his eyebrows and smirked.

“Good luck,” Daniel snorted.

Jack put his mug down and closed the space between them, leaning in for a kiss. “C’mon. Don’t be grinchy, Daniel.”

“Grinchy?” But the kiss was returned, which was good.

“Scroogy?”

“Jack...” There was a sigh and a low chuckle.

“It’ll be fun,” Jack coaxed. “Alien Santa, hyperdrive sleighs, robo reindeer...”

“As long as they’re not replicator reindeer,” Daniel grumbled and pulled away after another kiss.

“No replicators,” Jack agreed. “And no glowy-eyed Grinches.”

“Good. We don’t want to give him nightmares.” A smile tugged at the corner of Daniel’s mouth.

Then Danny was back and wedged himself between them again, waving the marshmallow bag in Jack’s face. Jack took it from him, opened it and put three tiny white rolls into each mug and allowed Danny to have one extra to eat right away.

“So, what do you want to do when we’re on Earth?” Daniel asked, purposefully steering the conversation away from alien Santas for now.

“Snow angels! And snow men!”

“Check,” Daniel said.

“Getting all the decorations!”

“Yep.”

“Can we make cookies with Sam and Janet? Can we?”

“Sure. Cookies is a go. Hey, we could go to a nativity play if you want. And we’ll go sledding,” Daniel said brightly. Jack felt a spark of warmth, knowing his partner didn’t really care about any of these things but would do it all for the kid.

Danny looked up at them with bright eyes and Jack could practically see the wheels turning in his head before he burst out, “D’you think Santa would come through the gate? To Ba'th?”

Daniel shot Jack a _I told you so_ look.

Jack winked and said, “Well, Santa has his own ways of getting where he wants to go. You’ll just have to wait and see."

Daniel’s smile was just a little bit forced, but he nodded. “I bet you’re on his nice list.”

Danny jumped up and Jack grabbed the Rudolph mug from him before it got toppled over. “Maybe the Oma angel has told him I’m here! I have to write to Santa. I have to tell him about Mania and Ranja... and Mikele... Paolo.. and Jorge...”

Oy.

Daniel gave Jack another look. _You’re on your own._

“Whoa!” Jack got up and put their mugs on the table. He grabbed the little elf, scooped him up and announced it was bed time for little boys who wanted to stay on Santa’s nice list.

Danny squirmed and wriggled. “Jaaa-aaaack, I have to!”

“You can write a letter and a list of names to Santa tomorrow. And you can take it to Earth with you so Daniel can get it to NORAD.”

Now that got Danny’s attention. “NORAD is at the SGC! Why there?”

“Because NORAD does the Santa tracking every year. On a radar. And if you give your letter to Daniel here, he’ll make sure NORAD gets it out to Santa in time.”

The star child turned to Daniel. “Is that true?”

Daniel opened his mouth, closed it, then shrugged. “Sure. Jack is the expert on alien Santa things. So it must be true.”

“Will General Hammond allow Santa to go through the Stargate? Will you make sure he won’t get shot when he comes through here, Jack?”

“I’m sure Jack will clear it all with the general.” Daniel leaned back on the couch and sipped from his hot chocolate, waiting for Jack to talk himself out of that one.

But Jack had this covered and he would go through with it. “Yeahsureyabetcha,” he sing-songed as he settled the star child on his hip and made his way to the tiny bathroom.

“Jack? Will General Hammond give Santa his own GDO so he can come back here every year?”

“I don’t think Santa needs a GDO,” Jack said and put Danny on his feet in front of his own small table and washing bowl. He poured water from the jug into a glass and handed Danny his toothbrush.

“But he won’t be able to get back without one because of the iris.” Danny held the toothbrush out to Jack so he could squirt toothpaste on it.

“If Santa is an Ancient the iris won’t be an issue for him. Here, brush your teeth, elfling.”

“Ohhh.” Danny started scrubbing his teeth. “Doeth Thanna eventh...” Toothpaste dripped from his mouth and Jack quickly grabbed a towel and wiped it away before it could drip on the blue pajama top.

“No talking when brushing your teeth.”

Danny spit and rinsed and spit and rinsed. “Yuck,” he exclaimed, pouting. “Does Santa have to brush his teeth?”

“When he takes human form while he’s Santa he has to,” Jack confirmed. “No one wants a Santa with rotten teeth.”

Danny sighed. “Yeah and he has to brush his teeth a lot ‘cause he eats a lot of cookies. Poor Santa.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t mind. You ready to go to bed now?”

“If I’m real quick I could write my letter to Santa now,” Danny said as he skipped ahead to the bedroom.

Jack was beginning to see Daniel’s point. But he had lots of experience in dealing with the overactive mind of his star child. He wasn’t worried. “Santa letters need to be written with great care. If your writing is sloppy or rushed he might not get what you want. He might get it all wrong and give you a bucket full of new toothbrushes instead of a pony.”

Danny giggled. “Jaaaack, I don’t want a pony.”

“Oh, good. I don’t think we have enough space for one here.” Jack wiped his brow in relief.

“D’you think Santa will bring me my own pottery wheel? A small one just for me?” Danny asked as he climbed into his bed and knuckled his eyes.

Jack tucked him in and bent down to kiss the top of the blond head. “If you ask nicely, who knows.” The pottery wheel was already hidden away at the barn. Jack had ordered it here on Ba'th and it had been delivered last week. Danny loved working with clay and he spent a lot of time at the barn with Mikele and Jorge, making his own figures. But he wanted to throw clay like a pro to create jugs and jars.

“Jack?” Danny yawned and turned on his side, burrowing deep into the fluffy pillow.

“One more question.” Jack raised one finger. He had lots of experience with ongoing questions to draw out bedtimes, too.

“Two?”

“One.”

“They are tiny questions.”

“I love you, good night, Danny-boy.” He got up and headed for the door, but stopped at the muttered, “Okaaaay, just one.”

He returned to the bed and sat down on the edge. “Shoot.”

“You have to come real close, ‘cause I have to whisper it into your ear. Daniel can’t know about this.” When Jack complied, Danny continued in a hushed voice, “Can I ask Santa to give Daniel some Christmas spirit?”

 _Awww, man._ Jack hugged him close and whispered back, “You can ask Santa anything, kiddo. But you have to be patient. Might not happen this year... but if you keep asking... who knows.”

“Try try try again.” Danny put his finger on his lips when they heard the wood floor creak and a moment later Daniel entered the room to say good-night.

  
  



	2. Letters to Santa

**II**

**Letters to Santa**

After Jack had sent Daniel and Danny through the gate he’d spent most of the morning on the Ba'th moon in briefings with the Commander of the Armed Forces. It was a weekly routine and there hadn’t been any urgent matters to discuss, just the usual report exchanges, some memos and a couple of points Ihmahli wanted them to discuss with Hammond in the near future.

Around noon Jack was back on the planet and on base where he suffered through two hours of paperwork and more daily routine stuff until he decided he couldn’t ignore his grumbling stomach any longer and that the weather was far too alluring to have lunch at the base’s commissary. So he signed out for the day, changed into sweatpants and an old USAF shirt and went for a run.

The Air Force had built a nicely paved road as an extension from the old town road. The new road was a beltway around the theater complex, leaving all the old buildings and the grand boulevard untouched. It led straight to base and to the relatively new digsite Daniel and his team of archeologists were working on at the moment.

It took Jack thirty minutes at a steady slow-paced run to reach the old theater ruins where he used to play tourist guide. He still loved this place and was glad it was kept open for the kids to play ball and the tourists to explore. The AF had debated closing it because the theater catacombs were the entrance to the ring chamber – the planet’s only quick and easy access to the moon base where the gate was – but Ba’th authorities had balked at that on behalf of Ba'th Town’s economy being dependent on the ruins as one of the main tourist attractions. As a result of that only the catacombs were off limits and sealed.

It was winter now and no tourists climbed around between the ruins or on the stone tiers of the theater. Jack took a break and sat down on one of the boulders by the grand boulevard. The black Obelisk stood tall and proud in the distance, reminding Jack of the monument in Washington. He hadn’t been to DC in a very long time and his visits to Earth were mostly SGC based. He didn’t miss Earth, but sometimes he missed the change of seasons. Ba'th was hot during summers and balmy in spring and fall. It could get a bit cooler in winter, but never cold enough for snow.

He missed skiing. Maybe next winter he’d take Daniel and the kid to the mountains, too. Colorado had nice spots for skiing. He’d have to ask Carter where exactly she and the Doc had spent the holidays when they were back.

He stood and stretched, then jogged down the old town road alongside fields and range land until he reached the first old mudbrick houses of Ba'th Town. He passed by Hadis’ house and whistled at the four goats grazing out in the front yard. One of them raised its head and bleated after him.

A moment later he entered the cabin and thought how nice it was to have a house in town opposed to sleeping at the ruins or in Viktor’s ice cream booth down by the beach. He hadn't minded living like that while he’d still been memory stamped, but this was better.

He stripped out of his sweat soaked shirt on his way through the yard, tossed it over the porch banister and went straight to the pump to pour some water over his head and back. The cold chilled him to the bone but was refreshing after the long run. He wiped water off his face and stepped onto the porch to grab the towel that always hung on a hook by the front door.

That’s when he found the pile of folded paper sheets. Someone had placed a rock on top of them to keep them in place. Ba'th Town didn’t have a regular postal service, so there was no mailbox. If there was mail coming in from the city it was stored at one of the shops down at the market place and people had to go in regularly and ask if there was mail for them. Once a month the shop owner paid a couple of boys to deliver packages and letters to the houses of those who hadn’t picked up their mail.

Curious he bent down to pick up what appeared to be a dozen or so letters. Some written on brown sandwich paper, some on what looked like torn off lids from cardboard boxes, very few on real writing paper. He got a glimpse of clumsy handwriting and drawings. He brushed a hand over the sandwich paper on top and blinked at the words clearly written in block letters.

_Dear Santa..._

_What the..._ Jack grabbed the towel and quickly dried his face and short gray hair when he realized he was literally dripping on the mail. Then he sat down heavily in the rocking chair and went through the letters.

Letters to Santa.

 _Oh, Danny-boy,_ he thought, torn between amusement and desperation, _we need to talk about this._

And he heard Daniel’s voice as clearly as if he was standing next to him: _He’s got an imagination as big as the galaxy. Can you keep up with this?_

He and Daniel had decided to indulge Danny up to a point. The star child had taken a list for Santa to Earth with him. It wouldn’t take much to make Mania and her brothers happy. A bit of candy, maybe more of those princess/fairy trading cards she loved so much. Chocolate and a bag of marbles for Ranja and Paolo, a swiss army knife for Mikele... a perfume for Masala and a new set of dice for Jorge.

But this?

“No way,” he muttered. This had clearly been blown out of proportion. And he wasn’t going to...

He stopped leafing through the letters and read one that had a drawing of a stick figure wearing a red hat and a beard. Underneath it said; _I don’t know if that’s how you look, but this is you. Please don’t forget to come by my house. I have cookies. Love, Agna_

Jack read what else Agna had written. He knew her by sight, she was Mania’s friend. A skinny girl with a bunch of little brothers always trailing behind her. They lived close to Mania in one of the cabins down on the Lance, the poorest part of Ba'th Town. Lowly folks - that’s what the people called them.

All these letters were from Lance kids, Jack realized as he read on. He knew most of them by name, some of them he’d met only once or twice and some he knew pretty well, from ball practice. These were mostly written by younger kids. Kids who usually still believed in a holy man who’d come from the sky to bring gifts and make miracles happen.

It was a concept simple enough to grasp and believe in even without knowing the whole story about Christmas.

But these kids? Most of them learned very early on that few things in life were free and that dreams were mostly just that. Then again, maybe Danny’s Christmas magic was just the thing these boys and girls needed.

_How’d you do it, kiddo? How did you manage to get all these kids to believe?_

But this was Danny, the child that had fallen from the sky. Everyone around here knew him. Danny had his own ways of talking to people.

And make them listen.

Jack picked up his letters and went inside to fix himself a sandwich.

  
  



	3. Mission Santa

**III**

**Mission Santa**

At the end of every week two hours before sundown the old theater became a playing field. Most boys - and some of the girls - older than six were part of one of the two kickball teams Jack had set up when he’d still lived around the ruins. The ball practice and games had started out as a way to pass time and give the kids something fun to do, but had quickly turned into regular events and continued to take place even though Jack didn’t have as much time to play ball as he used to.

The number of players always fluctuated, depending on how much free time the kids had while helping their families make a living, but there were always enough kids around to play.

The ballgames lured many young adults into the arena and even some of the parents had started to come and watch their kids play whenever they had the time to spare.

Tonight was no exception. The teams kicked the ball hard and the audience cheered from the tiers. Someone had set up a BBQ outside the arena and the smell of grilled meet wafted over to where Jack sat and watched the game.

He wasn’t as engrossed in it as usual though. He had more important stuff to mull over.

Like letters to Santa. And how to deal with them.

Over the last three days since he’d found the first pile of letters more had appeared on the cabin’s porch. And Mikele had handed him a bunch today when Jack had stopped by at the pottery barn to pick up Danny’s wheel. Jack had asked the teen how this whole Santa thing had started to grow so big. Mikele had just shrugged and said he had no idea, but every kid on the Lance seemed to be waiting for the ‘big day’ when St. Nik would come from Earth to visit them.

Mikele had appeared more annoyed than anything, but when Jack had been about to leave the boy had tugged at his sleeve and asked, “Does your Santa guy know how to get a girl’s attention?”

Jack had raised an eyebrow and tried not to grin. “A girl, eh?”

“I think she fancies me, but she’s not from here.” ‘Not from here’ meant she wasn’t lowly folk, so not from the Lance. “She comes down here to buy pottery for her uncle’s shop.”

“Make her a gift. A glazed figure, a jug.”

“I did.” The blush covering the boy’s freckled face turned his cheeks as red as his hair. “She liked it. But I can’t keep giving her pottery. She’ll get bored by it. What do girls like?”

“Try flowers,” Jack had suggested. They didn’t cost anything because Mikele could pick them anywhere along the road.

“Flowers! She’s not my mother. I bring my mother flowers sometimes.”

“Your mom is a woman, too, you know...”

“Jorge said to give her something special.” Mikele had shuffled his feet. “Can’t you ask your Santa man if he knows something special?” Then he had rolled his eyes and laughed. “He doesn’t exist, right? He’s just a fairy tale. Man, Danny got himself in pretty deep if that Santa isn’t real, Jack.”

Jack had muttered something about an appointment, snatched the pile of letters Mikele had given him and high tailed it out of there. He’d been in such a hurry to leave, he’d forgotten to take the damn pottery wheel with him.

What the hell was he going to do about all this?

“Jack! Jack!” The small red-headed whirlwind scrambled up the old stone steps and zeroed in on him without slowing down. Jack caught Mania mid-flight and she wrapped her short but strong arms around his neck. “Gueth what...” She bit her lip, blew up her cheeks and released the breath with a wooshing sound before she repeated. “Guess!”

“Hey, princess, what’s up?” Jack freed his neck of the sumo-hug and sat her down beside him.

“I and Danny hath the motht bestest idea EVAH!” She slapped a hand over her mouth, giggling. “Ooops. we hassss...”

“We have,” Jack corrected with a smile, “but kudos to you for your ‘esssss-es’.” She was getting much better at talking properly, but when she was excited or angry she sometimes fell back into her old speech patterns.

Mania beamed, her whole face alight with pride. “Thank you!” Then she burst out, “We have decided to bring a new holiday to Ba'th Town.”

Jack suppressed a sigh. _Oh, here we go...._

But maybe he’d get some answers. Now that he had Mania here he decided that interrogation was first priority. He needed more intel.

“A holiday, you say? One where no one has to work and a big feast is held? Will there be cake?”

Mania tilted her head, apparently thinking about it. “There could be cake, I s’ppose. But there has... have... to be cookies.” She put a finger to her freckled snub nose. “And... jingles and bells and tinsels. What’s tinsels, Jack?”

“Tinsel? Something glittery you use for decoration.” Jack tried to come up with an explanation Mania would understand. “I don’t know what it’s made off, but it comes in long fluffy garlands. You know, like the flower garlands they sometimes give to tourists here, just … not flowers. Flimsy glittery stuff. Comes in all kind of colors.”

“Ohhh, is it pretty? Could I wear it around my neck?”

“Sure, why not.”

“Or on my head? Like a crown?”

“It’d make a pretty glittery crown,” Jack agreed.

He made a mental note to add tinsel to the things Santa would bring for her.

Mania was on a roll here. “We need that tinsels then. And we need Sanna. And elves. Danny says elves are Sanna’s helpers. And a sleigh... but I dunno, what a sleigh is. Danny says Sanna is a funny old man who’s bringing gifts. He’s never been here before,” Mania nudged Jack’s arm, “but he would come here if he knew about Ba'th.”

Jack suppressed something between a sigh and curse. “What exactly did Danny tell you about Santa?”

“That he cometh... comes on Chwist... Christmas. That he brings prezzies to all the children who are poor... and nice. He comes with a sleigh and reindeer who can fly.” Mania frowned as she tried to remember more. “My Prince Danny says that a holy man called Sanna Nik from a place on Earth hath given gifts and sweets to all the children who were poor. And that wath a loooooooong time ago. An’ something ‘bout a baby and angelth...sss... the angels come from the sky like Danny, but they were on Earth and not here, tho no one here knows about them. And the baby was born a loooooong time ago. But Sanna Nik and the helper elves still cometh... come... every year. To the children.” She paused to take a deep breath, then asked, “What are reindeer, Jack? I forgotted to ask Danny about that.”

Jack decided to go with the simple questions first. “Reindeer are deer. You know deer, right?”

“Oh! Of courth...sse. But they are jus’ deer not reindeer. Do reindeer make it rain?”

“No, they’re just a different kind of deer. You don’t have them here on Ba'th. They like it really cold. Might be too warm for them here.”

“It’s cold up in the mountains. Daniel says so,” Mania said. “He says there’s snow. It’s frozen rain that comes down in white fluffy fluffs. Daniel says it’s very soft but very cold.”

“That’s right. And when there’s snow the ground is all slippery and you need a sleigh to slide through the snow. The reindeer pull the sleigh. It’s like a...”

“Like a carriage for horsies? Only for reindeer?”

“Exactly!”

“And the sleigh and the reindeer can fly?”

“Well, ye-ah. Santa comes from a very cold place on Earth where there’s always snow. But he has to bring gifts to the kids all over the world, so he has to be very fast. And he flies so he can cross the oceans and the deserts and the mountains.”

“Danny says he’th got a magic th...ssssack where alllll the prezzies fit in,” Mania whispered as if she was sharing a precious secret with Jack.

“Yep,” Jack confirmed, “he put an extension charm on it. Everything fits and nothing gets too heavy for him to carry.”

He shouldn’t talk like that. He should try to find a way out of this before it got out of hand.

_Crap._

Mania prattled on, “Danny says Sanna Nik can use the stargate ‘cause you’d talk to the bald man and he’ll let Sanna use the gate. And then Sanna can come with his reindeer and his sack and all his magic.” She clapped her hands. “And we gets a tree, too! A biiiiig tree.” She jumped up and made herself as tall as possible, stretching both arms in the air. “Reaaallll biiiig!”

Jack blinked. A tree? “We... do?”

Well, getting a tree wouldn’t be a problem. As for Santa coming through the gate to all the kids... He’d have to...

No. No way.

Mania jumped up and down and up and down, like an energizer bunny on Speed. “Yeth... Yes! Danny says he’ll give us a tree. And allll the children of the Lance will be visited by Sanna!” She stopped jumping, placed both hands on Jack’s knees and lowered her voice again, whispering, “They all wrote letters to Sanna. Did you find them? Will you bring them to Earth when you talk to the bald man? Danny said you would.”

Jack wanted to bang his head against a hard surface. Daniel was so going to kick his ass. He had known the whole Santa-is-an-alien story would come back to bite them.

“It’s not all just up to Danny, you know?” He tried to at least let her know that there were some things ‘Santa’ might not be able to do.

Talking to Hammond about letting Santa go through the gate...

Right.

It had been funny when Danny first brought it up, but now it back fired. Badly.

“Yes, it is. ‘Cause he came from the sky, too, like the angels. He can talk to Sanna.”

“Did Danny say that? That he can talk to Santa because he came from the sky?”

Mania laughed. “Noooo, but I know! I’m not silly.”

Jack shook his head. “Sometimes coming from the sky isn’t enough to work all the magic.” Why him? Why did he have to have this conversation?

He had to put a stop to this, somehow. Because if he didn’t put a stop to this now, a lot of kids would be very disappointed soon.

Mania sucked in a sudden breath and pressed both hands to her cheeks. “Jack! What if Sanna doesn’t want to come? What if he’s scared of going to another planet?”

_Oh, for cryin’ out loud._

If he put a stop to this now, a lot of kids WOULD be disappointed. Maybe most of them would get over it quickly and take it as just one more thing that had turned out to be nothing than a nice dream. A game.

But he had read all those letters.

He looked at the little girl...

And caved.

Melted like the big soft marshmallow he was on the inside.

Jack put on his best _‘are you kidding me?’_ face. “Scared? Santa? It’s gonna be his craziest ride. He’ll love it!

”Are you sure? What if he doesn’ like it here?”

“Excuse me?” Jack waved at the arena and the ruins in general. “We’ve got a theater, ruins, beaches, sunshine and a whole bunch of great kids to give presents to. What’s not to like?”

He was so doomed.

Mania whooped, patted Jack’s knee and then she took off, a whirl of red hair, yellow dress and a knitted green sweater at least two sizes too big.

Jack sat and watched the last couple of minutes of the game, then went down to congratulate the winning team. Mikele and another kid carried the boy who had scored the final points on their shoulders. Ardian was his name. He had a missing front tooth and mouse brown short hair. Ardian never skipped ball practice. He was a gifted runner and could kick a ball harder than anyone would have expected from such a scrawny brat.

Jack slapped shoulders and high-fived ‘his’ kids. Jamal, one of the few lowly Ba'th kids who were allowed to visit the new school that had opened last fall, tossed the ball into the air and caught it again. It was a ratty ball, old and battered. Jack had gotten it from one of the tourist shops in town. This was the third ball he had bought for them and it was already falling apart. Ba'th Town’s souvenir and tourist shops weren’t known for their good quality products. Shop owners bought cheap stuff from the cities to sell it to the tourists for a price that kept them in business and allowed them to feed their families.

Jack fished a couple of taler from the pockets of his BDU pants and gave them to one of the boys he knew he could trust not to keep it for himself. “Get drinks on your way home. You did good.”

“Beer or wine?” the kid yelled back over his shoulder, already following his friends to the exit of the arena.

He just waved them off. He didn’t need to worry. Those kids were all addicted to some sticky sweet herb carbonated lemonade and they’d probably drink a bucket of that and then have a burping contest later.

Once most kids and adults who had watched the game had left and the sun was going down like a grand ball of fire behind the black obelisk at the end of the boulevard Jack decided it was time to go home, too. But just as he sauntered to the theater’s exit, someone called him by his rank and name. He turned around and saw a gate guard run towards him.

Jack immediately switched to colonel mode, all his senses on alert. _Daniel and the kid_ , he thought, but refused to play out any scenario his mind wanted to come up with. Instead he calmly addressed the guard who had come to a halt in front of him. “What’s up?”

“Sir, General Hammond and Doctor Jackson want to talk to you. Now.”

Jack was already moving. “What’s the situation?”

“They wouldn’t tell. Just said it’s urgent, sir. They want you to come through right away,” the guard informed him.

They crossed the arena and climbed up the tiers to the steel door which now covered the entrance to the catacombs.

Jack swiped his key card through the slit and the door opened with a low snick. He heard the faint sound of a generator springing to life, then the lights went on. On his tourist tours down here Jack had used kerosine lanterns to find his way in the dark tunnels. Now there were neon lamps hanging from the ceiling and thick black chords led to the humming generator in one of the chambers. The gift of electricity.

Jack missed the smell of the kerosine and the sense of spookiness down here because those lamps had created shadows in the corners and on the craggy walls.

They hurried down the corridor and entered the ring chamber. It wasn’t guarded on this side, only by cameras. Once they ringed up on the Ba'th moon, however, they were faced with guards armed to the teeth. It was a very different atmosphere up here and most people on Ba'th still had no idea about the true capacity of their Armed Forces and how the alliance with Earth actually worked. Without TV and radio or internet politics were for city folks who got newspapers. Ba'th Town and most of the other small communities were still a bit cut off from the modern world.

Up here the military existed like its own well structured and organized beehive. A joint army of SGC troops and Ba'th’s Armed Forces. Jack followed the guard down the wide paved road leading to the gate and told the soldier on DHD duty to dial it up.

  
  


Coming to the SGC always felt like stepping into another reality to Jack. Before he’d moved to Ba’th he used to spend most of his time at the mountain when he hadn’t been off world. The hallways, offices and labs had been home away from home. Now he felt more like a visitor or like someone who had been on a very long vacation and lost a bit of the ‘feel’ for being at home here.

General Hammond and Daniel were standing at the foot of the gate ramp and Jack relaxed immediately when Hammond greeted him with a warm, “Welcome home, Jack,” and the hint of a smile.

So, no crisis. At least no life threatening situation. Good.

“General,” Jack gave his superior a nod, “it’s good to see you, sir. What’s the...” He trailed off when his eyes settled on Daniel.

Daniel’s grin had a dangerous touch to it and the tightly crossed arms spoke volumes about the man’s mood, but Jack registered all that only as a side note. His eyebrow rose at the faint dust of powdery white covering the archeologist’s hair. There were traces of it on his blue BDU shirt, too.

“Daniel?” he inquired.

“Jack?” There was just a slight dark edge to his voice.

“Is that...” Jack stepped closer and reached out, but Daniel’s glare was warning enough, so he just waved at the hair instead, “...fairy dust?”

Hammond let out a sound between a snort and a cough. “Doctor Jackson will fill you in on the details, Colonel. I want to debrief the two of you, Major Carter and Teal’c at 19:00. In the meantime I want you to put a team of... elves... together.” With that the general turned smartly and left the gate room.

Jack stared after him for a moment, then turned back to Daniel. “Elves?”

“Elves,” Daniel confirmed, sounding almost chipper, but Jack could still hear that edge. “You know... Santa’s helpers? Teal’c has already volunteered. Sam, too. And Janet... but you might need a couple more helping hands. And figure out how to make all this work so that Santa can go through the gate.” He started walking out of the gate room. “We’re almost done with the cookies, but we’re basically snowed in so there might be a bit of a problem with getting all the toys and stuff here from the North Pole.”

Jack caught up to him and grabbed him by the elbow to stop his angry stride. “Daniel...”

Daniel swung around, piercing him with another glare. “I have no idea how he does it, Jack. But your son...”

“Flour?” Jack swiped a hand through Daniel’s hair, tousling it, and a small white dust cloud rose, then settled down again.

“...has turned the commissary into the Christmas bakery and recruited half the mountain to...” Daniel sneezed once and snapped, “Jack! Leave my fucking hair alone.”

“Bless.”

Daniel just continued glaring at him.

“What?! He’s your son, too,” Jack said, then smirked, “He was a part of you, actually, so when you think about it, you’re...”

“If you say I’m his _mother_ – don’t. Just. Don’t.”

Jack knew when it was smarter to keep his mouth shut, but he didn’t always act on that knowledge. He shrugged. “I was going for biological father.”

Daniel rolled his eyes. “Danny managed to talk the general into bringing Christmas to Ba’th. There are marines at the commissary, working with cookie cutters to make snowmen, stars, angels and reindeer. And you do realize this is all your fault, right? Because _you_ had to go with the whole Santa-can-go-through-the-gate story and put ideas into his head.”

“Danny talked to Hammond?”

“He called it a Santa briefing,” Daniel said dryly.

“And Hammond...”

“Thinks it’s a great idea.”

“What exactly...”

“Everything. Presents, a tree, cookies... you won’t get a flying sleigh or reindeer I’m afraid, but everything else is a go.” Daniel started walking again and Jack followed, trying to digest all that.

“Sooo... cookies?” he finally drawled. “You couldn’t have them delivered... because?” Then he remembered Daniel saying something about...

“We’re snowed in. Well, the Springs are. There’s a blizzard out there. Started last night and is still going strong. No one can get into town and so everyone who was on duty yesterday is still here and since there’re only very few teams off world and nothing important is going on we’re now the Christmas bakery.”

“Oy,” Jack said.

“Ye-ah.”

“But you’re...” Jack waved at the evidence of flour.

“Helping, yes.” Daniel scowled, then sighed. “Do you seriously think I want to be the Scrooge around here when Danny has gotten everyone into the Christmas mood?”

“Could’ve fooled me,” Jack muttered.

“Jack, I love him as much as you do, I’m not going to ruin this for him.” They stopped at the elevator and Daniel swiped his card through. “But I’m worried. He’s a five year old kid and has everyone wrapped around his finger to do what he wants. He just charmed everyone, including General Hammond, into... this.”

“Actually, that’s good. Because that saves me from having to talk Hammond into this. I’m sure Danny did a much better job than I would,” Jack quipped and gave Daniel a sheepish grin.

They stepped into the arriving car and Daniel leaned against the wall, staring at Jack with what appeared to be a mix of disbelief and … maybe... amusement. “ _You_ were actually going to ask Hammond to let Santa use the gate?”

Jack winced and pulled the pile of letters Mikele had given him this morning from his jacket’s pocket. “Danny and Mania did a great job of PR’ing Santa at Ba’th Town. And these are only the ones I got today.”

Daniel’s eyes widened. “Danny said he’d told all his friends to write to Santa. I had no idea he told the whole town.”

“The Lance anyway. All the letters came from Lance kids.”

Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose. “Jack..” He shook his head and groaned. “How many?”

“Too many to just shove it under the rug and let it go.”

“You know, you’re the one who keeps saying we can’t let him have his way all the time just because he’s as cute as button,” Daniel pointed out, scowling.

“And you’re the one telling me that as long as he’s not doing it for his own selfish reasons, as long as he isn’t a brat about it, there’s no harm in letting him work his... whatever it is he’s doing... from time to time,” Jack countered. Daniel was right, though. Jack wasn’t immune to Danny’s charm, but he was better at pretending to be less affected by it.

Mostly.

Sometimes.

They left the elevator and headed for the commissary. The hallways were filled with the delicious smell of vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and freshly baked cookies. There was laughter and Christmas music floated towards them.

“They were going to serve cookies over the holidays anyway,” Daniel muttered, “So the kitchen was all stocked up. Now all the cookies will go to Ba’th. No one seems to mind though.”

They entered the large room and Jack had to stop by the doors and take in the sight that met him.

The whole commissary had been turned into a bakery. The Christmas decoration was the same old same old as every year. Large silver and gold stars hanging from the ceiling and fake pine garlands adorning the doors to the kitchen and pantry. There was a tree decked in the usual red and green baubles and straw angels and golden tinsel; the full cliché of Christmas kitsch for those poor SF and officers who had to be on duty over the holidays.

But today it was the perfect setting for what was going on here.

Tables had been shoved together so that there were three large work counters now, all of them covered by baking foil. At the first counter several marines were throwing together and kneading dough. At the second counter Carter, Doctor Lee, Felger and Janet were busy cutting out cookies. And at the third counter Jack spotted Lou Feretti, Siler, Reynolds and others frosting the finished cookies and sprinkling them with colorful sugar bits and chocolate chips. Teal’c and two of the usual commissary staff members carried in new baking sheets to put on the third table and picked up the ones with frosted cookies to take them away.

The radio played a rather rocking version of Jingle Bells.

“Welcome to my nightmare,” Daniel deadpanned.

“JACK!” Danny who had been at the cookie cutter counter, dashed across the room, covered in flour and bits of cookie dough from head to toe, and jumped right into Jack’s open arms. He was wearing an oversized white apron and a chef’s hat. “You’re HERE!”

Jack scooped him up and caught the chef’s hat with one hand as it slipped from the kid’s head.

“And you’re the biggest cookie of all. Are you going into the oven, too?” Jack didn’t even try to avoid being covered in flour. It was pointless.

Danny giggled and shook his head. “But we have gingerbread men, too! And cookie canes! And Santa hat cookies! Daniel made pyramid cookies!”

“He did, did he? Camels too?” Jack smirked in Daniel’s direction.

“No camels, but donkeys! The donkeys look like Thor!”

Daniel muttered something about having to check on the ovens and rushed off.

Danny asked, “Jack, do you think Thor can have just one tiny cookie, too?”

Jack wasn’t sure mules could digest cookies very well. “Maybe better give him some carrots.”

The blond head bopped up and down and the chef’s hat fell off again. Jack put it back in place. “You’ll have to grow into this, bud.”

“Auntie Julie gave it to me. She said I am the chef of cookies.”

It took a moment for Jack to place ‘Auntie Julie’ as Captain Julie Meyers who was in charge of the commissary.

Danny started wriggling. “Come and see how many cookies we already have!”

Jack put him down. “Lead the way, chef of cookieland.”

They walked into the pantry and there were three large baking racks laden with sheets full of cookies.

“We’re almost done,” Danny announced, pushing the too large chef’s hat back into place. It kept slipping off to one side, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“And you recruited half the SGC into being Santer’s helper, huh?” Jack picked an ordinary oatmeal cookie from one of the sheets and held it up. “You need a cookie tester, too? I’m the perfect guy for the job.”

“The cookies are not FROM Santa,” Daniel’s voice came from the door.

“They are FOR Santa,” Danny said. “And you can have one cookie, Jack, but just one.” The munchkin gave him a stern look from under his too-big hat.

“Santa has to eat ALL these cookies?” Jack took a bite and suddenly – just for a moment – he was six again and trying the first batch of mom’s oatmeal cookies fresh out of the oven. He could almost hear his mom’s voice, an echo from the past; _Don’t eat them yet, you’ll burn your mouth, Jacky..._ “Mmmmmh, coookieeess.”

“Santa is always hungry,” Danny explained. “And if Santa can’t eat all of them, the kids can eat them. I told General Hammond that the kids in Ba’th Town are too poor to give Santa lotsa cookies and General Hammond said we can do it here. I want to frost some! Siler promised to show me how to draw with edible pens! Did you know there are edible pens? I mean, the color is edible, not the pens...” He held on to the chef’s hat with both hands and left the pantry at lightning speed.

Jack shook his head. “He’s got it all covered, eh?”

“Yes. And if you think this is huge, wait for it. There’s more,” Daniel said with a sigh.

Jack’s left eyebrow did an up-turn. “More?”

“The tree.”

“Oh, yeah. I heard rumors about that tree.”

“He wants to give Ba’th a tree. When we were out shopping – before the blizzard – he insisted we get tree decorations for a bigger tree. One we can put up at the Lance. I told him it was a moot point because no one on Ba’th knew about Christmas and decorated trees and that’s when he told me that he’d educated all his friends about Christmas and that they’d written to Santa, too.”

Daniel reached out and picked a red-white striped cookie cane from one of the sheets. He turned it over carefully as if it was a fragile artifact. “He believes Santa will bring all the gifts through the gate if we give the letters to NORAD. He believes that if we put up the big big tree, Santa will know where he needs to go when he arrives on Ba’th. That it’ll be like a beacon for him.”

“Then we better put a team of _elves_ together to haul all the cookies and decorations through the gate, chop a tree and put it up. And make it shine and sparkle so bright that Santa won’t miss it,” Jack said. “I guess that’s what Hammond wants us to brief about?”

Daniel nodded. “Yes. He told me his grandkids have grown out of the Christmas-magic state and I think he’s just happy to indulge Danny because he’s so...”

“Enthusiastic?”

“It’s very hard not to get sucked into this. He’s practically glowing with all this Christmas cheer,” Daniel said quietly. “He believes in this so strongly. He wants it to be true so it has to be true. I think that’s why Hammond agreed to this. Who could say no to something this... good.”

“Maybe Danny reminds Hammond of someone else who never backs down when it comes to helping people in need.” Jack sidled up to Daniel until their elbows touched. He gave his partner a gentle nudge. “He’s your kid through and through. And he got all your good genes.”

“Do these kids need Christmas, Jack? Is that what they need? Toys, tinsel and cookies? I know it’s a lovely gesture, it’s a wonderful thing Danny is trying to do. But you know that once we start this we have to do it every year. And all that aside... I didn’t know he told ALL the kids to write. I got the small things we decided to give to Danny’s friends, but I have no idea how to get gifts for all of them, Jack.”

Daniel gazed at the cookie he was holding between two fingers.

“Try it,” Jack prompted. “They are great.”

“Already did. I know they are great.” He broke off a piece of the cane and ate it slowly as if he was savoring the taste.

Jack gave him another nudge in the direction of the door. “C’mon, let’s put a team together. And a list of stuff we need. Let’s go and chop the biggest tree of all trees and get it down to town.”

Daniel gave him a doubtful look. “What about the magic sack filled with gifts for so many kids?”

Jack pulled out his letters again and held them out to Daniel. “I want you to read what these kids want. Trust me, we can get most of it on Ba’th. And some of it... we just have to be creative.”

Daniel took them, leafed through them, then paused and started reading. Jack watched him and smiled at Daniel’s face turning from doubtful to surprised. He saw a smile blossoming, then a touch of sadness, then another smile and then, as Daniel read page after page, Jack watched him becoming thoughtful and thinking thinky-thoughts and mulling ideas over and...

“It’ll take more elves and a couple of days to organize all this.”

“Yep. And we have to go through the letters I have on Ba’th when you get home.”

“Need to talk to Janet... have to drive to Madinah City... “ Daniel started walking away, muttering to himself. “Siler could help...”

Jack snatched another cookie and followed suit.

Mission Santa was a go.

He loved it when a plan worked out.

They talked to Teal’c, Carter and the Doc, got Feretti and his team on board and then Doctor Lee came up with a great idea. Jack put him and Carter to work on it. They put a team of marines together for some of the heavy work and finally Jack talked to Siler. Team Santa was put together in no time and when 19:00 rolled around, SG-1 – Jack still thought of them as SG-1 even though their work description had changed – was ready to lay it all out for the general.

As they waited for the elevator to take them to the briefing room, Danny came galloping down the hallway. The chef’s hat was gone, he’d probably left it at the bakery, but he was still wearing his apron and his cookie-appearance had been completed by spots of what Jack assumed was edible paint. His apron, his hands and his nose sported sprinkles of red, blue and yellow.

“Wait wait wait wait!” He skidded to a halt in front of them and Jack crouched and took him by the shoulders to steady him.

“Slow down there, cookie monster. Take a deep breath... and stop playing tornado. You’ll knock yourself down or run into a wall if you keep going like this.”

“But Ja-ack...”

“What?”

“Are you going to NORAD now to give them the Santa letters? Did General Hammond clear Santa to go through the gate?”

“General Hammond cleared Santa to go through the gate. Santa will get the letters and then it’ll take some time for him to read all of them. Stop worrying, okay?” Jack patted Danny’s back. “You go back to cookie frosting and stay with Janet and Siler. We have to go to a secret Santa briefing.”

Danny looked up at Daniel, then at Jack and back at Daniel. “But...” He bit his lip and shuffled his feet. “But... I... wanted to...”

Daniel went down to be on eye level with the star child, too. “Danny?”

Danny wrapped his arms around Jack’s and Daniel’s necks and pulled them in close. “I wanted to ask Santa if I could be his elf. I forgot to write that in my letter. But I could show him where everyone lives and where to leave prezzies if there’s no chimney,” he whispered, blushing.

“You can’t do that, bud. You’d have to stay up all night. And Santa has his own elf to help him,” Jack said.

“I could sleep all day so I’ll be wide awake,” Danny offered. “Santa’s elf has never been to Ba’th, he doesn’t know the Lance.”

“He’s an elf, he knows everything,” Carter said and Teal’c added, “Indeed.”

Danny frowned and shook his head. “Elves are not all knowing, Teal’c.”

“Then we will give SantaClause a GPS,” Teal’c suggested.

“Ba’th has no GPS maps,” Carter pointed out, then realized what she was doing and winced. “I mean... sure. We can do that. GPS sounds like a plan.”

“Danny, you can’t be Santa’s helper,” Jack said firmly. “You can help deliver all the cookies and you can help decorate the tree. How’s that?”

Danny sighed. “I like that, I guess.”

“But,” Daniel interrupted thoughtfully, “maybe we can ask Santa to come visit you once he has delivered all the gifts.”

“Can I stay up until he comes? I can thank him for coming to Ba’th. And give him his cookies.” Hopeful blue eyes were aimed at Jack. “Please? I won’t ask for anything else. He can keep the pottery wheel.”

Before Jack could intervene, Daniel said, “I’m sure he wants to meet you as much as you want to meet him. After all you brought Christmas to the kids in Ba’th Town. And he gets to go through the gate because of you.”

“Santa would be honored to meet you, DannyJackson,” Teal’c threw in.

“Can Mania sleep over and see him, too?”

Jack scowled. He knew where this was going.

“Sure, why not. After all she plotted this out with you. You can ask Ranja, too,” Daniel suggested, giving the boy an encouraging smile. “The three of you can camp out in your room and wait for him.”

Danny squeezed Jack’s neck. “Please?”

_Oh, what the heck..._

“Yeah, sure. If Santa can make the time. But no flying around in his sleigh – too dangerous,” Jack said. He could work a lot of ‘magic’ for his little boy, but he didn’t have a sleigh with flying reindeer up his sleeve.

“Okay!” They got proper _‘I love my daddies’_ hugs and were released. Danny traipsed off again to frost more cookies – or himself.

“Why don’t we invite all of them and have a ‘sit on Santa’s lap’ day by the tree,” Jack griped as soon as the tyke was out of ear shot.

“The thought has crossed my mind,” Daniel replied lightly. “But I wasn’t sure if you were up to that.”

“It might be a bit over the top,” Carter cautioned.

“Forget it. And what if he figures it out? He knows me too well, he’s smart as a whip. He’ll recognize me.”

“Not if we dress you up properly, sir,” Carter said with a smirk.

“Does Amazon Prime deliver to the mountain? In a blizzard? Because as far as I know there are no Santa costumes in the locker room.” Jack grumbled.

“Uh, actually... there is one. In your locker.” Daniel shrugged.

“There is _what_ in my locker?” After a pause Jack added, “I still have a locker here?”

“You still have quarters here, too, sir,” Carter provided.

“I do? Nice.” But he was getting side-tracked. He scowled at Doctor Jackson. “Daniel? Locker? Suit?”

Daniel gave him a rather gleeful grin. “I was kinda mad at you for sending me to Earth with a kid full of ideas about alien Santas, sleighs and flying reindeer. And payback is sweet, they say... so I got you a costume.”

The elevator arrived.

“Dan-ie-l...”

“You’ll love it. Okay, no, you’ll hate it... but it comes complete with a beard, glasses, coat, even a fake belly, pants, boots... all the things. It’s in your locker.”

Teal’c added, “Doctor Fraiser volunteered to give you proper SantaClause make-up, O’Neill.”

“And I’m going to take pictures,” Daniel said.

“Make-up?” Jack growled. “You're all getting coal in your stockings, just so you know.”

Daniel gave him a wicked grin. “Oh, I expect to get a lot more than coal from Santa. I’m going to write my own letter and he better deliver ~~s~~ his present to me in person.”

Jack snorted and when they left the elevator and made their way to the briefing room he couldn’t help humming _Santa Baby_.


	4. It's the most wonderful Time of the Year

**Part IV**

**It’s the most wonderful time of the year**

  
  


“Stop it!” Jack ordered sharply when Thor’s head bumped into his side for the third time. The gray mule either was trying to rub his nose or wanted to get rid of the new red bridle Mikele had just put on him. Jack was trying to attach the saddlebags and Thor’s antics didn’t help.

“You should be honored to be the official cookie delivery mule,” Jack said. All he received was an indignant look from large dark eyes.

“He didn’t like being scrubbed and bathed and groomed either,” Mikele sniggered. “Danny told him it was a special wellness program just for him, but I don’t think he appreciated it.”

The kids had braided Thor’s mane and tied a red ribbon into his tail. They had wrapped golden tinsel around the reins. The two large saddlebags filled with cookies sported straw stars. Daniel fastened another sack on top of the mule’s saddle and took a step back.

“Yep, looks like the perfect cookie mule,” he said. “I think we’re ready to move out.”

“He’s sooooooooo prettyyyy,” Mania squealed, doing the energizer bunny thing again. She had donned her white princess dress – Jack suspected it was an old nightgown, but it had frills and reached down to her bare feet so it made a great princess dress - for the occasion and wrapped some of Thor’s golden tinsel around her head.

Whether it was intended or not, she looked just like a Christmas cherub even with that mop of curled red hair.

Daniel had thrown on an old Abydonian robe, the color of desert sand. When Jack had teased him about it he had just shrugged and said it seemed appropriate not to deliver cookies in his BDU or jeans and shirt.

Danny, who had put on his beloved orange cap and shirt and khakis, fed Thor a carrot, telling him how sorry he was that mules weren’t allowed to have cookies. Thor didn’t seem to mind. He liked carrots well enough.

Jack put Mania on Thor’s back, in front of the cookie sack. She got to ride the royal horse and for as long as she pretended to be the princess of Ba’th Danny seemed to fully support her and didn’t mind walking because there wasn’t enough space for two kids on the mule’s back among all those cookies.

Daniel checked the bags one more time, took Thor by the reins and then the trio took off to take cookies to every house of the Lance where children lived. Danny was holding a stick with a bell and a bright jingle announced the cookie delivery service at every street corner.

Jack could still hear it chime long after they were out of sight.

Danny and the twins had worked all morning packing small bags of cookies. A note was attached to each bag. It said the cookies were a gift for Christmas from Earth, but that Santa would love to have one or two when he brought the presents and that it was custom to put them out on a plate before going to bed.

Jack couldn’t help but think that Danny had started his very own Christmas tradition here and he could picture them doing a cookie-hand-out every year from now on.

There was a tug at his pant leg and Ranja, Mania’s twin brother, asked, “Are we going to decorate the tree now?”

“Yeahsureyabetcha.” Jack checked his watch. “Decorations should have been delivered by now. Let’s go.”

The tree had been put up last night. It was a huge spruce, taken from the woods and brought into town on one of the few jeeps the AF base had in its car pool here on Ba’th.

They had put it up where the Lance bordered the harbor. There was a rather large courtyard leading into a wide open space where the harbor market was set up with its food and fish booths.

Mikele whistled when they arrived and spotted the many boxes Santa’s helpers had left by the tree. Teal’c and two marines were just setting up the high ladders they had gotten from somewhere.

Jorge, the bulky young rowdy who worked at the pottery barn with Mikele and was captain of the second ball team, had brought in his gang of youngsters who were standing around smoking or eying the tree with curiosity.

Jack and Teal’c put them all to work with just a few instructions. Boxes were unpacked, garlands and LED light strings untangled. They had discussed real candles and decided against them. There was always a light breeze down here at the harbor and trying to keep all the candles alight and keep an eye on them so the tree wouldn’t go up in flames was too much of a hassle.

Baubles and ornaments wandered from hand to hand and up to the older teens and marines who balanced on the ladders.

Soon more kids showed up and wanted to help and an hour later a small crowed had gathered around the tree. Hadis, the owner of the pottery barn and his daughter Masala arrived with a cart and offered clay ornaments Mikele and Jorge had apparently created over the last week. They were beautifully crafted glazed gingerbread men, rocking horses, bells and Santa hats.

“Danny told us all about decorations,” Mikele said. “We thought we’d make some, too.”

“It cost me a fortune in material and all the lost work time those boys spent on these instead of stocking up the shop’s pottery for next summer,” Hadis muttered, but winked at Jack and stayed for a while to help hang them into the tree.

Sylvia, the single mother of the twins and Mikele, and two other women Jack knew only by sight, set up an impromptu soup kitchen around noon and fed everyone with hot tomato soup and baked buns.

It was like a fair.

The kids talked about Santa. Would he come tonight? Or tomorrow night? Would he come at all? Jack picked up pieces of hushed and excited conversations about whether or not this Santa Nik would bring them what they had asked for or if he would bring them coal instead if they hadn’t been good enough?

Apparently Danny had taken the Christmas education of these kids very seriously.

“I asked him for coal, so I hope he brings some. My dada can’t work this winter and we need coal for the stove and heat,” one boy said.

One of the florists stopped by and delivered white flower garlands which were wrapped around their tree, giving it an extra touch of festivity. Another shop owner contributed silver necklaces with ruby red bling bling stones shaped like tears and hearts. They glittered in the sun and no one cared that they weren’t actual tree ornaments.

There was no snow and instead of a forest or decorated town houses, the crystal-clear turquoise ocean stretched out in the background, water glistening in the afternoon sun, and it was warm enough to be out without a jacket. The distant chatter of the seagulls looking for food at the shore and on the many tourist boats which were moored at the piers until next summer didn’t sound like Christmas carols either.

Yet, as their tree became decked in white, silver and red, as lights lit up and pottery ornaments and the shimmering azure and white baubles Danny had picked (because they reminded him of the ocean, he’d said) appeared everywhere, the spruce turned into a grand Christmas tree and while not everything matched in color, Jack thought it was the best tree he had ever seen.

Teal’c, who had Daniel’s camera, took pictures and videos of the decoration progress when he wasn’t buried somewhere in the tree’s sturdy branches, attaching baubles or lights with great care and without complaining about the needles and spruce gum.

Eventually the cookie delegation returned, their bags and saddlebags empty, and Mikele took Thor to his well deserved rest and afternoon hay.

Jack who had been busy checking all those damn LED lights to make sure none of them were broken and all the batteries were intact, took a break at some point and found Daniel sitting on the ground, surrounded by a gaggle of small children. Danny was in his lap, absently sucking at the tip of his thumb and playing with the wide sleeve of Daniel’s robe.

Daniel’s quiet voice had all the kids hanging on his lips as he was telling a story.

“ _Two little children were sitting by the fire one cold winter's night. All at once they heard a timid knock at the door, and one ran to open it. There, outside in the cold and the darkness, stood a child with no shoes upon his feet and clad in thin, ragged garments. He was shivering with cold, and he asked to come in and warm himself._

_The children drew the little stranger to their warm seat and shared their supper with him, and gave him their bed, while they slept on a hard bench. In the night they were awakened by strains of sweet music and, looking out, they saw a band of children in shining garments approaching the house. They were playing on golden harps, and the air was full of melody._

_Suddenly the strange child stood before them; no longer cold and ragged, but clad in silvery light. His soft voice said: "I was cold and you took me in. I was hungry, and you fed me. I was tired, and you gave me your bed. I am wandering through the world to bring peace and happiness to all good children. As you have given to me, so may this tree every year give rich fruit to you."_

_So saying, he broke a branch from the fir tree that grew near the door, and he planted it in the ground and disappeared. But the branch grew into a great tree, and every year it bore wonderful golden fruit for the kind children.”_

The little ones immediately asked for another story and Jack knew that Daniel would be occupied for a while.

As the shadows grew longer Santa’s helpers removed the ladders and boxes and everyone took time to marvel at the work of art they had created before the crowd started to clear and people went back to their work and chores. The kids lingered a bit longer, but eventually they were drawn home by the anticipation of cookies waiting for them.

“Do you think there will be any cookies left for Santa?” Daniel asked later when they walked side by side along the piers to get some privacy and to look at the tree from a distance. It was almost dark now and the gas lamps along the harbor were lit.

Masala had taken Danny and the twins up to the cabin to stay with them until Mission Santa had been accomplished. The SGC’s Santa’s helpers teams had gone to collect ordered goods and gifts that had arrived by train from Madinah City today. And another team had ringed up to the moon to get what the SGC had sent through.

Carter and Doctor Lee were up at the ruins. Jack had to give it to Bill Lee – it was a cool idea he had there. Thanks to Asgard tech and creativity anyone who watched the sky tonight – and Jack would bet dollars to donuts that a lot of kids were going to watch the sky – would be treated to a magical sight.

“If Danny told them there won’t be presents if Santa doesn’t get cookies...” Jack smirked.

“I bet he didn’t tell them that. He wants all of them to get gifts.”

“Well, he told them about coal for the naughty kids.”

“No one is getting coal. Only those who asked for it.” Daniel pulled a notebook from his robes and opened it. “Two kids asked for bags of coal for the winter.”

“Yeah, and Teal’c chopped wood for one more who put that on her list.”

“Agna. Her mom has a broken arm and can’t do it,” Daniel said. He read through the lists in his book. “Did you order the balls?”

“Yep. They should be among the stuff that came from the city today.”

“We should go. It’s time for Santa Clause to come to town.”

“And eat cookies.” Jack had his priorities straight.

“First we have to dress you up.”

Jack groaned. “I can dress up for Danny. I don't have to dress up for all of them...”

“If any of them are on the lookout for Santa, they need to see Santa and not you,” Daniel said. Jack could clearly hear the amusement in his voice.

“Didn’t everyone tell them to go to bed and leave Santa alone to do his work?” Jack wasn’t done complaining yet, not by a long shot.

“And you expect all of them to follow that order?”

“Well, d’oh.”

“Come on, Santa, let’s get you to base and into your Christmas BDUs.”

“Christmas BDUs, my ass.” He shot Daniel a dark look. “Next year – your turn.”

They turned around and there was their tree; sparkling brightly, a beacon for Santa in the twilight which turned into darkness fast.

Daniel pocketed his book away and pushed his glasses up his nose. “Wow,” he murmured.

“Yeah.” Jack felt a rare pang of solemnity. Like they had done something meaningful here. Something … spiritual.

While they had gone through all the red tape for Mission Santa with Hammond and Ihmahli, who had joined the briefing as well, they had decided to keep it as non-religious and simple as possible, to avoid awkward situations and cultural misunderstandings. These people were still in the process of shaking generations of misleading beliefs about gods and sinners and rituals connected to that. And Danny had made this all about the children. All about giving and supporting, hope and charity and love among the people.

St. Nik of Myra had been a monk, but he had also been a do-gooder, a man with a big heart for the poor and the ones in need.

But this tree they had set up... it was so much more than a gift to the children. It was a symbol.

“A token of our alliance,” Daniel said quietly beside him as if he had read Jack’s thoughts. “Danny brought Christmas to Ba’th and Ba’th has accepted this gift from him and now it’s part of its culture.“

“At least in this part of town,” Jack said.

“Oh, word might spread so that it will someday be known in other parts of town or other towns...” Daniel paused and shook his head. “General Hammond wasn’t kidding when he said he could okay all this as a means to strengthen interplanetary relations and exchange of cultural values.”

“See? Totally your kid. Peaceful explorer, diplomat, bringer of Christmas cheer,” Jack teased, but there was so much truth in it, it suddenly scared him a little.

“He is five,” Daniel whispered, again with the mind reading thing. “We need to keep an eye on this... gift he has, his way with people. If he believes he can change the world for everyone he’s going to burn his wings eventually. And then he’ll feel responsible for having failed even though it won’t be his fault because he’ll reach his limits and can’t always make that difference.”

“I know. We’ll protect him as best as we can.” Jack wrapped his arms around Daniel and together they stood, watching the tree. “But tonight he can make that difference. We can. At least for a little while.”

“Yes.”

“Still feeling grinchy, Doctor Jackson?”

“No. But if Santa doesn’t stop making out with his elf and start delivering presents soon, there might be a lot of grinchy kids tomorrow.”

“Mmmmakin’ out...” Jack nuzzled Daniel’s hair, tightened his hold on him, grateful for being able to do this. To stand here with him, having him by his side. Physical. He had no idea how he had been able to breathe and live and function during that time Daniel had been up with the glowies.

If he hadn’t ended up on Ba’th back then with his memory swiped and living the life of someone else, he might have ended up retired and lonely, a scroogey hermit somewhere in Minnesota. And more importantly; if Danny hadn’t fallen from the sky and put him back on track, Jack might still be a clueless lazy guy touring tourists through Ba’th ruins, telling them made-up tales of sinners and gladiator games.

This was better.

Much better.

  
  


They took the jeep back to base and made a stop by the ruins where Carter and Doctor Lee were busy setting up the light show. They checked their time line and made sure everything was a go, then Jack couldn’t put it off any longer.

It was time to face the music.

Or rather Doc Fraiser with a make-up kit and the red suit. She awaited Jack in his base quarters, ready to do her magic. Jack griped about the suit being too warm and the boots being too tight. He whined about the fake belly being too fat and the fake beard and eyebrows being scratchy.

“Why the hell do I need fake eyebrows?”

“Because Danny would recognize the scar, sir,” Fraiser said as she was attaching said eyebrows. “You look amazing. Wait til I put the nose on you.”

“Nose? I already have a nose last time I checked.”

“The nose and the glasses will make you appear totally different. Like the real Santa.” Daniel’s grin was way too gleeful for Jack’s liking.

“What if I have to sneeze?” Jack stared at what looked like a lump of skin colored play-doh.

“Don’t sneeze?” Daniel suggested.

“And be quiet while I’m attaching this. I have to model it around your own nose so it looks natural. Don’t talk,” Fraiser ordered sternly.

Jack resorted to rolling his eyes and shooting deadly glares at Daniel until Fraiser snapped, “Stop doing that, sir! I want you to sit perfectly still and not move a muscle in your face. We cut our vacation short for this, so you better work with me here. I’m almost done. Then the nose has to harden for about twenty minutes.”

She molded his nose for several minutes and Jack tried to ignore the growing need to scratch his face because there was an itch that hadn’t been there before. He was going to shoot them all. Later. He could see Daniel’s face in the mirror and he really didn’t think he deserved that kind of dirty smirk nor the laughter in his archeologist’s eyes.

Finally the deed was done and Colonel Santa Clause carefully stood and straightened the red pants over his ample belly. “Hammond should’ve done this,” he pointed out.

“You look great, Jack,” Daniel assured him as he helped Santa into his jacket.

“I have to agree, sir. Try not to touch your face too much and don’t share kisses under any mistletoe as long as you need to be presentable,” Fraiser said with a knowing little smile as she packed up the make-up kit.

“Why? You think the nose is gonna fall off?” He eyed himself in the mirror.

Fraiser had done a great job. The fake skin she had added to his nose, and the small round glasses had transformed his face into that of an amicable elderly man. The white bushy eyebrows and the enormous beard had been glued on so properly, Jack worried he might never be able to get rid of them. At least not without losing a layer of skin.

He put on his hat.

“Ho ho ho,” he boomed, “let’s get this show on the road, kids.” He radioed Carter to let her know they were on their way.

  
  


They had just reached the highest point of the bluff, where the theater was, when the night was suddenly illuminated by a tail of sparkling stars racing across the sky. They watched as it moved towards the Lance and out over the ocean where it described a wide curve and returned to descend at the harbor, where the tree was.

Jack could clearly see the reindeer and the sleigh inside the shooting stars, could even make out a red-clad figure on the sleigh. Bells rang from the sky, announcing Santa’s arrival.

“I hope Danny and the twins get to see this,” Daniel said. They had stopped the jeep to watch the display of light and illusion. And even knowing it wasn’t real, Jack was once again thrown back to being a kid. He would have given his soul to see Santa arrive like this when he’d been his kid’s age.

“I told Masala to take them out to watch. And to wake them for this if they fell asleep.” Jack didn’t think the kids would get much sleep tonight, but they’d had a long day so their bodies might just decide to take over and get some rest.

  
  


The Lance was a maze of narrow alleys lined by small windswept wooden cabins and sheds. Larger barns like Mikele’s pottery were only used as workplaces by less lowly citizens, but those who lived on the Lance shared their houses with goats, donkeys and chicken. Some had working spaces like jewelry workshops, smithies or saddleries attached to their homes. Many of the women worked as needlewomen or washwomen.

The streets were either cobble stone or wooden planks along small piers where fisher boats were moored. It was a labyrinth by daytime; easy to get lost and find yourself in dead-end alleys. At night it was even harder to find your way.

But Jack hadn’t made it to colonel because of his good looks and the SGC’s Santa’s Helpers team was Special Ops and perfectly trained for this mission.

They were quiet and stealthy, moving through the darkness as if they knew the terrain in and out. Orders were whispered into radios and cargo was delivered to street corners where Santa and his elf picked them up to take them to the right homes.

Some goods – like logs of wood or bags of coals - were snuck into sheds or placed by the doors with Teal’c’s help. Rolls of cotton, denim or leather ended up at several houses where they were needed. Jars of baby food, loaves of bread, ring cakes and several fruit baskets were put by fireplaces or on dining tables.

The things these kids had asked for in their letters to Santa.

For their families. For themselves, to make life a little bit easier for a while.

Santa delivered tools and boxes of nails for a shoemaker, bags of flour and sugar and almonds ‘so that mama can make the cake we love so much’, a new blanket ‘so my sister and I won’t have to share one blanket anymore’, a new bucket ‘because ours has a hole and I always have to stuff it with straw, but it never holds’...

There were other requests, too, of course. And those were the ones Santa had picked personally and with great care. Small wooden swords and shields – for the arena games where the kids played gladiators to entertain the tourists. Coloring books and crayons, stuffed teddies and small baby dolls, fairy trading cards, bags of marbles, a swiss army knife and a small leather bound book with a golden lock and key – something to impress your maybe-girlfriend with.

And then there were the balls. Santa had gotten balls for several of the players who took practice very seriously. Good quality balls, made for professional players.

Each kid, even those who had only asked for other things, got something special just for them. It was a Santa rule.

Santa and his elf got cookies.

At almost every house there was a plate or a bowl with cookies left by a window or the door. Sometimes only one or two were left, at other places the whole bowl was filled. Santa and his elf munched some, but gave most of them to their helpers who were lurking in the darkness.

Teal’c was fond of the gingerbread men, Feretti preferred the vanilla ones and Siler picked the snowmen.

It was dark at night down here on the Lance. No street lamps in the dingy alleys and the moon kept hiding behind clouds now. The SGC Santa’s Helper team used dimmed flashlights, but Santa and his elf had a kerosine lamp to illuminate their way.

While his elf waited by the doors, hidden in the shadows because he wasn’t wearing a fake nose and glued-on facial hair, Santa quietly entered the homes which were easy to access to leave the smaller gifts at the foot of the children’s beds. Whenever he found a boy or girl awake and waiting for him he tucked them under their blankets, telling them to go to sleep and have sweet dreams. He let them hug him if they wanted to and assured them that he would return next year.

One girl asked about the names of his reindeer and he managed to count them all off. She asked if Rudolph’s nose was really a glowing red and he said yes and she asked if Rudolph had a cold. “My dada’s nose is red and shiny when he has a cold.” Santa chuckled and assured her that Rudolph was fine.

Turko, a kid Jack knew from ball practice, wanted to know all about the North Pole and Santa tried to explain a vast landscape made of ice to him. He sprinkled it with some bits he remembered from the Santa Clause movies – like the fact that Santa had a personal elf assistant who served him hot chocolate whenever he wanted.

Those conversations between Santa and the kids were brief, but they all had one thing in common. Each and every kid he met tonight told him about Danny.

“ _Say thank you to Danny, ‘cause he sent you here.”_

“ _Danny said you’d come.”_

“ _Danny told us all about you. And Christmas.”_

“ _If you see Danny, tell him I love my prezzie.”_

“ _I didn’t think you’re real, but Danny said so and he was right.”_

Santa thanked them for the warm welcome and the cookies. And as time went by and he went from house to house he forgot about the itching beard and the fact that he was drowning in his own sweat thanks to the fake belly and the suit made for colder climates. He forgot about his boots being too tight and the hat being uncomfortably warm.

“Next year,” Daniel said at one point when they had almost reached the Lance’s end – the smell of the fishery harbor was almost sickening down here, “I want a real elf costume complete with pointed shoes and hat.”

Jack snorted. “Yeah, right.”

“Ah, actually, it wasn’t fun having to hide out in the shadows while _you_ got all the love.”

“You get to play Santa next year and you can knock yerself out.”

Daniel gave him a knowing little smile and shook his head. “I think you got that part for good now, Colonel Santa. Admit it, you like it.”

Jack tugged at his beard, remembering now how itchy it was and that it got in the way all the time. “This? You’re kidding, right?”

“You enjoyed every minute of it.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did.”

“I SO didn’t.”

“Oh, you SO did.” There was laughter in Daniel’s voice.

Jack plucked at one of his bushy eyebrows. “That game gets old after a while, Daniel.”

This was answered with a low snort. “Nope, it doesn’t.”

“Does.”

“And still you take the bait every single time.”

Jack elbowed his elf none too gently. “What about the ears?”

“Ears?”

“Yeah, you know, elf ears. Goes with the full costume.” Jack eyed the cookie he had snatched from the last plate. He’d probably die of a sugar overload if he ate that, but boy, these cookies were great.

“Uh, I’m drawing the line at the ears.” Daniel took the cookie from Jack. “These are addictive.”

“If I’m doing this again next year, wearing the beard and nose and all, you can do ears,” Jack decided.

Daniel chose not to reply to that. They had reached the last house, but the door was shut and the window locked. Still, there was a plate with two cookies on the doorsteps.

“A bottle of Schnapps for dada,” Daniel read from his book and Santa placed it on the step.

“Nothing else?” There hadn’t been much to pick up at the corner of this last street.

“Nothing. Do you know this kid? His name is Goran, he’s eleven.”

“I’m not sure I ever met him. I still have...” Santa rummaged around in his sack of special gifts, “a swiss army knife and a yo-yo.” He gave the dark cabin an uneasy look. “Not sure we should leave the bottle here.”

Daniel cleared his throat and read from his notes, “Please bring a bottle of Schnapps for my dada so he will sleep through the day and leave me alone.”

“Damn.”

“This is the best you can do for him I guess.”

Jack nodded, but didn’t move. “You were right,” he said after a moment. “These kids don’t need Christmas.” He reached into the sack and pulled out the knife and the yo-yo. “They need laws. Rights. Protection from domestic violence.” Jack put both items by the bottle. He knew the boy would cherish them, but Santa’s Christmas joy was dwindling fast. “They need a voice.”

Daniel opened his notebook and pulled a pen from his robe’s pocket. “Laws are fine and good, but we have them on Earth and still people abuse and neglect their kids and if the law steps in they end up in the social system. I’m not saying laws are wrong, we need those laws and they’re important. But they are only effective if someone is there to enforce them or give people the means to change or help themselves.”

He was talking from experience there, Jack knew that.

Daniel continued, “You are giving him a day of peace by keeping his father drunk. It’s not perfect, it’s not the right thing to do, but right now it’s the only thing you can do.” After a pause he added, “Danny was their voice for Christmas. And you’ve been doing a lot with these kids.”

“I taught them to kick a ball around,” Jack snapped. “I wouldn’t call that ‘a lot’”

“You spent time with them. You still do. They have a place and time to play now, that’s something they need.” Daniel handed him the pen and a sheet he’d ripped from his notebook. “Leave him a note.”

“What kind of note?” Jack couldn’t shoot the father and he couldn’t start adopting kids from the Lance.

“To let him know there are people out here who care. Someone who is around all year and not only on Christmas.”

Jack scowled, but took the pen and paper. Daniel raised the kerosine lamp to give him light. After a moment of thought, Jack wrote; _Ball practice is twice a week, if you want to join in, ask Mikele at the pottery barn. If you need anything, look for Jack. Merry Christmas, Santa_

He put the note down and placed the yo-yo on top of it.

Jack knew it wasn’t up to him to change the world, but he could at last offer a bit of hands-on help here and there.

  
  


They walked back in silence through the small alleys and over wooden walkways. The sky had cleared and the stars twinkled above them. Even though it was way into the night, it was still balmy and Jack took off his hat to wipe his brow.

“I’m glad we did this,” Daniel said just as they crossed the road that separated the Lance from the town market where all the tourist shops and little restaurants were located. Their jeep was parked across the street. It was a weird sight around here because there were no cars on Ba’th. It looked kinda ‘alien’. But the town’s people had gotten used to seeing it here and there, as well as the couple of motorcycles the SGC had provided for the base at Jack’s request.

“Yeah,” Jack agreed.

“This is what it should really be about. Christmas.” Daniel gazed up at the sky as if he expected to see the Christmas star. “It’s funny. I could have told you all the history, all the facts and all the myths. I could have told you what makes Christmas so special for so many people, what the real meaning of Christmas is. But I never felt it the way others did. I knew how it worked, but it was all theory, learned knowledge, not real experience. To me, as a kid, Christmas mostly meant watching others enjoying it and being left out, forgotten or given stuff like new socks or scratchy sweaters. Practical things. Things I could easily take with me when it was time to move again. Most people didn’t get to know me well enough to buy me stuff I wanted.” He took a deep breath. “This. This is the real thing, Jack.”

“Can Santa report to Danny that you found your Christmas spirit tonight?”

Daniel just smiled and when they reached the jeep, Jack clicked his radio. “Carter? You still up at the theater?”

“Yes, sir. Teal’c, Siler, Lou and his team joined us. Doctor Fraiser, too.” There was laughter and chatter in the background. “We started a fire and are roasting marshmallows. Someone brought a bottle of wine. Or two.” After a short pause she added, “We are off duty, sir.”

“I know that, Major. Hey, I need a little favor.”

“Sure, what is it?”

Jack told her and she sniggered – a very un-Carter-istic sound. “One Santa coming up right away, sir. Are you and Daniel going to join us?”

“Nope, we have one last visit to make. Have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. And don’t let Teal’c eat all the marshmallows. O’Neill out.”

He switched the radio off and they leaned against the jeep’s hood and watched as Santa’s sleigh moved across the sky again in vivid colors and among the glittering stars, accompanied by the faint jingle of bells.

  
  


Masala greeted them at the door. Her baby boy was fast asleep in the colorful baby sling, snuggled up against his mama’s warm body. The young woman couldn’t suppress a giggle at Jack’s sight. “I would not have recognized you if I hadn’t known,” she said in a hushed voice.

“Well, I say that’s a good thing,” Jack muttered and winced when his left eyebrow got stuck halfway up. Not smart raising your eyebrow when there was a fake one glued onto it. But it was an automatic response, he didn’t do it on purpose. Well, most of the time anyway.

“Are the kids still up?” Daniel opened his robes and shrugged out of them, revealing desert camo t-shirt and pants.

“They fell asleep an hour ago, but they saw Santa’s arrival.” Masala cupped her son’s head tenderly with one hand. “I hope you will do this again for many years. I want Jonah to enjoy this as much as Danny and the twins did tonight.”

Jack checked his sack to make sure he had everything in there he needed for this last appointment. “Maybe they won’t wake up and I can just leave everything by their bed.”

“You promised,” Daniel reminded him.

“Yeah, but they fell asleep, Santa came, left gifts... has a tight schedule...”

“Jack.”

He threw up his hands. “Yeah, yeah, I know.” He swung the sack over his shoulder and gave Daniel one last look. “ _Elf Ears_ ,” he mouthed and crossed the living room.

There was a short hallway leading to the two bedrooms. Danny’s was the smaller one, but it had a big bed which was now occupied by three little tots. Danny sucked the tip of his thumb. His other hand was captured by Mania’s and Ranja had managed to hog most of the blanket and wrap it all around his short legs. His head rested on his sister’s shoulder.

All of this was illuminated by the small petrol lamp on the nightstand.

There was a plate with cookies and cookie crumbs on that nightstand. And a glass of milk.

Jack wished he had a camera.

He stepped closer and cleared his throat. He put his sack on the floor and sat on the edge of the bed, putting a gentle hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Hey, bud... Danny?”

The boy stirred and slowly opened his eyes. Jack remembered how he had found Danny up in the ruins, how he had been lying there, curled up and asleep, looking so pristine with his milk-white skin and the blond hair. He remembered how he’d woken him up and the little boy had gazed at him with sleepy eyes...

Just like he was looking at him now.

And Jack _knew_ Danny recognized him. There was no way the kid would be fooled by a fake nose and a red suit.

“Santa?” Danny’s voice was just a whisper and his eyes grew big. “You’re here.”

Or maybe he really looked different enough...

“Someone told me you’re the bringer of Christmas around here,” Santa said.

Danny sat up, knuckling his eyes. “I just told them ‘bout it.” He nudged the princess of Ba’th until she came around, too.

Louder now, and with all the enthusiasm of a true Daniel Jackson, he called his friends’ names, “Mania, Ranja! Santa is here! Santa is here!”

Ranja woke up, took one look at the strange big man, scooted backwards and fell off the bed. Mania tried to hide behind her prince at first, but then just sat and stared at him, kind of mesmerized.

Santa got up and rounded the bed carefully. “Are you okay, kiddo?”

Ranja gazed up at him and nodded. He pulled the blanket he had taken with him in his fall up to his face and blinked.

Santa sat down on this side of the bed. His feet were really killing him now. Why hadn’t he insisted on wearing his own boots? Why? He held out one gloved hand to the little boy. “I don’t bite, you know?”

“You’re tho BIG,” Mania said.

“That’s because I have to eat so many cookies. And I’m not big into sports.” Santa patted his round belly.

“Does you want uth to… us to give you veggies next time?” Mania cocked her head to one side. “My mama says veggies are healthy, that’s why they are so yucky.”

“Nah, no veggies for me, thank you.” He eyed Ranja, trying to figure out how to make him more comfortable.

Maybe… “Danny, can you give me my sack? It’s on the floor by your side of the bed.”

Danny hopped out of bed immediately and heaved the sack onto the bed.

“How do you make it so that everything fits in there and it doesn’t get heavy?” Ranja asked suddenly, then pulled the blanket higher and hid behind it.

“My elves put an extension charm on it. It looks like a normal sack on the outside, but is much bigger on the inside.”

“I knew that,” Mania piped up. “Jack told me!”

“Mikele says you’re not real,” Ranja blurted out from behind his blanket.

 _Oh, great, thank you Mikele._ “That’s because he’s getting to that age where kids grow up and don’t want to believe in Santa anymore. And I’ve never been here before. He’s probably a bit spooked.”

“Did you come through the stargate?” Mania asked. “Danny goes through the stargate sometimes. And Jack and Daniel, they are his dadas. He only has dadas, not a mama. I has no dada, only a mama.” She shrugged. “Sometimes I pretend that Jack is my dada. Or my servant. Or both.”

Touched by her open affection, Santa needed a moment to get his voice back. Then he said, “You’re the princess of Ba’th. I've heard of you. They say you rule with great kindness and wisdom.”

Mania giggled. “Danny is my prince.”

“Ahhh, you chose well.”

There was a tug at his sleeve and Santa was relieved to see Ranja standing beside him now. “Is it scary to go through the stargate?”

“No, not scary. It’s fun. It’s fast and a bit cold and feels like jumping from a cliff into the ocean.” He knew most boys around here jumped off the cliffs at the north shore, a bit outside of Ba’th. It was a common game of dare among them. He thought it was a good way to express what gate travel could be like. He wasn’t up to explaining the physics of going through a wormhole and being spit out on the other side.

“I wanna try that next summer,” Ranja said, forgetting his fear as excitement took over. “Mikele says I might be old enough next summer to try!”

“I want to do it, too,” Danny piped up. “Do you think Mikele will take me up there?”

 _Uh-huh, when hell freezes over, kiddo,_ Santa thought and reached into his sack. “Presents anyone?”

He pulled out trinkets and toys, smiling at the whoops and laughter of the three kids. He had gotten a ‘golden’ tiara for Mania as a last minute gift when he’d been to Madinah City a couple days ago. She leaped out of bed, put it on and pirouetted at frightening speed. She had wrapped her new pink tinsel garland around her shoulders like a stole. The pink was a horrible contrast to her ruby-red hair, but it was her favorite color.

Jack had never seen a more elegant princess.

Ranja kept hugging his new wooden shield and the small sword. He was the youngest player at the arena games, barely old enough to keep up with the bigger boys. His sword and shield were smaller than most Santa had given away tonight, but they were painted in brilliant colors of red and yellow, and the shield carried Ranja’s name. He was a proud little warrior.

Danny unpacked his pottery tool set, calling out each item and showing it to the twins. “I can make real clay ornaments now! I can make Egyptian glyphs for Daniel and a Homer Simpson head for Jack! He can use it as a coaster for his beer.” He beamed at Santa. “When I’m big I want to be a potter! I wanna have my own barn and I’ll give everyone a job and all the money I make I’ll give to the Lance people. And I’m gonna build a clay castle for princess Mania where we will live.”

“And have lots of puppies and kittens,” Mania added.

“And I’ll be a great warrior and protect you,” Ranja announced.

“You’ll be the royal guard,” Mania agreed. “You gets to live in the clay castle, too.”

Santa sipped his glass of milk, wishing it had a shot of whiskey or at least some honey in it, and nibbled on a cookie. He was getting to the point of not wanting another cookie until next Christmas. Then he was bathed in hugs and sloppy kisses by the princess and barely managed to avoid being poked in the eye by the tiara.

Danny lined all the items from his pottery tool kit up on the shelf over the bed and then sat to look at his bag of colorful glass marbles for a moment. The pottery wheel was still at Mikele’s barn – they had to take Danny down there tomorrow to give it to him.

Ranja wouldn’t let go of his precious shield when he climbed back into bed and so Santa tucked it in with the kids when he pulled the blanket over them. He plucked the tiara from Mania’s head and put it on the shelf.

“Please read us a story, Santa.” Danny pointed at the pile of books on the small table in the corner.

“Ohhh, a story!” Mania squealed, then yawned.

“A Santa story,” Ranja pleaded. “Please please please!”

Santa went over and picked a book. It was Danny’s favorite.

He sat back on the bed, opened the book, cleared his throat and began.

“Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house  
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.  
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,  
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.  
  
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,  
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.  
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,  
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap….”

The twins were asleep by verse two, but Danny kept looking at him expectantly, so he went on,

“When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,  
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.  
Away to the window I flew like a flash,  
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.  
  
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow  
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.  
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,  
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.  
  
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,  
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.  
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,  
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!  
  
"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!  
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen! Hey-ho, Rudolph!  
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!” Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

Danny’s hand latched onto the book and Santa paused.

“You added Rudolph. Jack always does that ‘cause Rudolph has to lead the reindeer and he’s not in the poem and Jack and I, we think that’s not fair.”

Damn. He had thrown in the Rudolph line on auto-pilot because he always did. “You’re right. I don’t think it’s fair either. Red-nosed-Rudolph has to be in the poem.”

Danny nodded.

Santa continued and two verses later, when he was just reading,

“He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,  
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.  
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,  
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack...”

Danny whispered, “I know that Santa isn’t an alien.”

Jack stopped reading and glanced at the star child over the rim of the round glasses. “Oh?”

He didn’t know what to say. Here they had all played along with this big huge Santa game the kid had started and now the little rugrat confessed he knew there was no Santa? If his eyebrow didn't get stuck every time he lifted it, he'd give the kid the eyebrow of all eyebrows.

Danny bit his lip and lowered his eyes to the blanket. He tugged at it restlessly with his fingers. “I just wanted to make everyone happy. And I _really_ believed it for a while, ‘cause... I wanted to believe it. And I did. But I know you’ve been doin’ all the work. All of you. I remembered...” he paused and sniffled. “I remembered that General Hammond wouldn’t let an alien Santa go through the gate just because I’m telling him to let him. It has to do with...” Danny scrunched up his face, thinking hard. “Safety protocol?”

Jack nodded, silently cursing this random surfacing of adult memories, and his irritation melted away instantly.

“And I wanned to let you know, but I had so much fun and all the other kids had so much fun and I wanned the fun to go on.” He raised his head and there was a tear in the corner of one eye, threatening to fall. “Is that a bad thing?”

Santa opened his arms. “C’mere.”

Danny slipped out from under his blanket and climbed into his lap, snuggling against him.

“You made everyone very happy, bud, that’s not a bad thing. And we played along because we wanted to.” And that was the damn truth, no matter how annoying this stupid suit was.

“Even Daniel?”

“Ohhh, Daniel...” Jack smirked. “Daniel found his Christmas spirit tonight.”

There was a sigh of relief and Danny looked up at him. “How’d you do all the things? The prezzies... you gave prezzies to all the kids, yes? And Santa in the sky on his sleigh?”

Santa tapped Danny’s nose and shook his head. “Some things Santa won’t share with you, Danny-boy.”

“But...”

“Do you want to believe in Santa for a while longer?” _He’s got an imagination as big as the galaxy..._

There was a moment of hesitation, but finally Danny nodded. “Yes.”

“Then let’s finish this story so you can go to sleep and dream of flying reindeer.” Santa opened the book again.

“His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!  
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!  
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,  
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.  
  
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,  
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.  
He had a broad face and a little round belly,  
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!”

Danny usually giggled at the bowlful of jelly, but tonight he didn’t and when Jack checked on him, he found his son fast asleep, one hand holding on to the furry sleeve of Santa’s coat.

Jack kissed the top of the blond head and read on, his voice low pitched.

“He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,  
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!  
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,  
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.  
  
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,  
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.  
And laying his finger aside of his nose,  
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!  
  
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,  
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.  
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,  
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

The End  
  
  


  
  


**Author's Note:**

> The story Daniel is telling the kids is a slightly adapted version of “The Legend of the Christmas Tree” by Jay T. Stocking.
> 
> "Twas the Night before Christmas" belongs to Clement Clarke Moore


End file.
